Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the East African Community (EAC) on the impact of UK-Rwanda relations on regional security following the signing of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership, in the context of the EAC's regional force's announced deployment to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to combat M23.

In recent weeks we have raised our concerns about the increase in violence, hate speech and increased movement of armed groups with the Governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and Rwanda, as well as the leadership of the UN Peacekeeping Mission, MONUSCO. The UK engages frequently and at a senior level with the Partner States of the East African Community (EAC) on regional security issues through our missions, and in the UK. The Prime Minister discussed these issues with Rwandan President Kagame during CHOGM last week and I [Minister Ford] most recently spoke with the Rwandan Foreign Minister on 16 June and the DRC Minister for Planning on 24 June to re-iterate the need for all sides to continue to work together to deliver de-escalation on the ground and an end to hate speech.

The UK is committed to supporting regional efforts to build stability and reduce violence in DRC, and we welcome the recent meeting of regional Heads of State in Nairobi towards this end. We will continue to closely monitor the situation, including developments on the deployment of the EAC's regional force.